MoviePass Was Responsible for 10 Percent of Opening Weekend Sales for Certain Movies

Here’s the thing about MoviePass (well, there are a lot of things about MoviePass, but here’s the biggest things): You have to be there, physically, at the movie theater when you buy your ticket, so you can’t order tickets online or get them in advance unless you go to your local Regal or AMC the morning of the showing you want. For opening weekends of big tentpoles like Thor: Ragnarok or The Last Jedi, that makes using your MoviePass to get a ticket the first day a movie hits theaters essentially impossible. However, that doesn’t mean MoviePass wasn’t responsible for some opening weekend earnings — in fact, it’s responsible for quite a large percentage.

The company has recently crunched some numbers since drastically lowering their prices earlier this year, and has found out (via /Film) that audience members who used their MoviePass to get tickets made up 13.21% of the opening weekend domestic box office for Roman J. Israel, Esq., and 10.00% of the opening weekend for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Those are not small numbers, and while neither of those are Marvel movies, that represents a huge success for MoviePass itself. It’s likely that some people wouldn’t have gone to see these movies if they hadn’t been able to get a ticket for a fraction of the price.

MoviePass also found that its sales accounted for a higher percentage of movies in their second weekend, for those people who skipped the crowds at movies like Justice League, Coco, and The Snowman to catch up on them the following weekend. Somewhat unrelated to this is MoviePass’ announcement via press release that the company has partnered with an independent distribution company whose name they will not disclose to provide ad revenue for that company’s movies in exchange for MoviePass ads of their own. So, expect to see MoviePass ads popping up here and there as you take your daily scroll through the internet.